Bush at Islamic Center Urges Tolerance towards American Muslims
"Americans who mistreat Muslims should be ashamed.  In our anger and emotion, our fellow Americans must treat each other with respect." - President George W. Bush
By Wendy Ross, Washington File White House Correspondent

Washington -- President Bush September 17 spoke out strongly against Americans who have discriminated against Muslim Americans in the wake of the September 11 terrorist bombings in New York and Washington.

"Americans who mistreat Muslims should be ashamed," the president said in remarks at the Islamic Center in the nation's capital. "In our anger and emotion, our fellow Americans must treat each other with respect."

The United States counts millions of Muslims amongst its citizens, Bush said, and they are making "an incredibly valuable contribution to our country."

"Muslims are doctors, lawyers, law professors, members of the military, entrepreneurs, shop keepers, moms and dads, and they need to be treated with respect."

Bush said the "the face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That's not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace. These terrorists don't represent peace. They represent evil and war."

Quoting from the Koran, Bush said, "in the long run, evil in the extreme will be the end of those who do evil. For that they rejected the signs of Allah and held them up to ridicule."

A representative from the area's Muslim community, Imam Yusuf Saleem of the Muslim American Society, told the president that he and his fellow Muslims "are shocked and dismayed" by the terrorist attacks on the United States, especially since the attacks are associated "with a religion that has only peace as its ultimate aim."

He thanked president Bush for taking the time to come to the Islamic Center to talk with him and with other representative members of the Muslim American community.

"We are a part of the fabric of America. And we have contributed, as our president said, in so many ways," he said.

Prior to Bush's visit to the mosque, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters "the president intends to speak out very strongly about the need to remind all Americans that Arab-Americans and Muslim Americans love the American flag, just like everybody else who is a citizen of this country. And he's looking forward to that visit. He'll spend some time with the leaders of the community, as well as various members of the community. The president considers that a very important meeting. In our anger and emotion, our fellow Americans must treat each other with respect."

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